Ok, remember I said I was coming down here to see my friend here? .. well, look at what I found him doing, the little bastard!

Anyhow.. first impressions on Costa Rica. Its expensive. No two bones about it. In fact, many things are more expensive than Canada, or even Maui. Doesn't make sense. I mean, I am all for fair prices and Ticos have the right to a good lifestyle just as North Americans enjoy, etc, etc.. but the infrastructure is *still* at central american levels.. for north american prices. So somebody is pocketing the difference. 

And its not just the money. The whole local attitude has left me quite disenamored with the place. Everyone is very aggressively trying to sell you something, and you almost have no right to just say no, thanks. Yesterday's episode took the cake though. We got off a ferry only to find out that we had missed the connection bus to Montezuma. Of course there were a couple of taxis waiting to offer their services.. for a 100% premium from what the boat captain had said was a fair taxi fare. They made no efforts to conceal that the whole deal was about them knowing we needed the transport and that we had to take it or sit there for 3 hours for the next bus. 

All the tourists that were on that boat, 10 in total, banded together and we just said that no, it was too much, that we'd rather take the bus. I mean, it was a matter of principle since it was so obvious we were being gouged. The whole thing devolved into a tension between the two sides, us sitting on one side of the road, and them next to their cars on the other. At some point I even overheard them talking (I guess they thought the Canadian flag on my backpack precluded me from speaking Spanish ;-) , and it was really infuriating to hear them use derogatory terms towards the gringos and how they were going to get us for all we were worth and shaft unholy things up our .. anyhow. You get the point.

In the end we ended up hoping on a bus for about 4 kms to another place where we were able to secure a pickup truck where we rode on the bed .. quite fun ride actually. And honestly, we were happy to stick it to the taxi drivers who would probably have to wait till the next ferry for another batch of potential customers.

Anyhow, all this drama to give you an idea of what Costa Rica has been like for me. Perhaps its cause we have been following the tourist trail, and falling in all the usual tourist traps?.. but certainly the vibe has been quite different from Brazil for instance, where I felt that while the locals were working in the tourism industry, and nothing wrong with that, I never felt like I was being taken advantage of for the most part. Here.. they say Pura Vida.. I think they mean, Pura Plata!.